trial to another county. I explained to him it didn’t work that way, and I never heard from him again.” He picked up his briefcase and stood. “I’ve got to get to the courthouse, Sheriff. Anything else?”
Buck shook his head absently. “No. Thanks, Don.” Then he turned in his seat. “Say, Don.”
The attorney looked back.
Buck said, “So you think if you’d gone to trial the jury would’ve brought back a murder one verdict, right?”
“No doubt about it. Local crime, local witnesses, local man dead… no doubt about it.”
“Judge Stockton never was known to be soft on crime. Why do you suppose he pushed the deal?”
Don Jr. frowned a little. “I wondered about that myself at the time. The only thing I can figure is that he wanted the fellow off the streets and didn’t want to go to trial.”
Buck murmured, “I wonder why.”
He shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know, will we? Have a good day, Sheriff.”
* * *
“Are you sure that’s the right dog?” Miles said. “They all look the same to me.”
I couldn’t help slanting him an exasperated look. “Of course they do.” But, in fact, he did have a point. If it hadn’t been for the bright yellow flames embroidered on her leash, I wouldn’t have recognized her either, and I’d still had to check the ID tag on her collar to make certain. Not that it mattered. Whether it was an agility star or a house pet, a lost dog was top priority.
We’d waited for some time, listening for the sound of a frantic owner calling her dog, and then walked across the field, expecting Marcie to come running up at any moment. As the minutes went by and more people came out into the parking lot or crossed into the field to walk their dogs, I asked if anyone had seen Marcie, but no one had. Worse, no one knew what room she was in.
“She must have given up and gone back to her room,” Miles said. “You should have the front desk call her.”
If I’d lost Cisco in an open field next to a strange hotel far from home, I couldn’t imagine just giving up and going back to my room. But it was getting late, and Cisco was competing in the first event, and I didn’t know what else to do. “Yeah, okay,” I said. “I guess so. They can at least leave a message for her if she’s still out looking. Go on to breakfast. I’ll meet you there.”
“Do you want me to take Cisco to the room?”
Cisco was over the excitement of the new dog and was once again sniffing the grassy field, pausing to look up with pricked ears and happy eyes every time a car door slammed in the parking lot or another dog headed excitedly in our direction, pulling its owner behind. Flame, with the energy-conserving good sense of most border collies, lay down at my feet, waiting for what was going to happen next.
“No, I’ll do it.” I didn’t want to give Cisco his breakfast until after he’d completed his first run, and Miles was notorious for sneaking him treats.
Miles nodded toward Flame. “What are you going to do with that one?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I clucked my tongue to both dogs, pulling Cisco into heel as we started back across the field toward the parking lot. “I guess I can take her with me to the trial and leave her in the car until Marcie gets there. It shouldn’t be very long before she gets the message. I’ll leave my cell phone number too.”
I glanced at my watch and noticed to my dismay that it was almost seven. “Uh-oh,” I said. “I don’t think I have time for breakfast.” I turned a beseeching look on Miles. “Would you do me a huge favor and grab a couple of pastries to go from the breakfast bar? And more coffee.”
He gave me a look filled with forbearance. “I could be having eggs Benedict watching the sun rise over the ocean right now. So glad I cancelled my meeting.”
“And bacon,” I added, struggling to keep both dogs under a reasonable semblance of control. “For training treats. Hey!” I stopped dead and glared at the dogs, both of whom were straining and pulling at their leashes, eyes fixed upon the thick copse of woods that separated the field from the highway, having apparently caught the scent of a rabbit or a squirrel. “Cisco, watch me!”
Usually that tone of voice, which